XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.society.liberalism   
   From: 7steps@knox.com   
      
   They finally caught a brake.   
      
   Working class New Yorkers rejoiced Wednesday that congestion pricing was   
   axed by the Trump administration — saying the much-loathed driving toll   
   was a big financial burden.   
      
   “I’m ecstatic,” said Paul Belli, who owns a plumbing business in   
   Brooklyn. “Nobody needs this. Everyone has high inflation they’re   
   dealing with already.”   
      
   Belli said he has “spent thousands” on the toll since the controversial   
   fee to drive into Manhattan below 60th Street went into effect six weeks   
   ago — in part because plumbers have on-the-job equipment that require   
   them to drive to work.   
      
   “My customers are going to be very happy because now I can stop charging   
   them for the congestion pricing [adjustments],” Belli said. “Everyone’s   
   been hurting through this whole thing.”   
      
   The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration   
   announced Wednesday it had terminated approval of the program, which   
   aimed to reduce traffic and travel time while raising billions for the MTA.   
      
   The transit agency quickly responded by suing to keep the toll in place.   
      
   The scheme, which went into effect Jan. 5, irked many blue collar folks   
   — who said they need vehicles for their jobs, or that taking public   
   transit doubles their commuting time.   
      
   “We feel relieved. At the end of the day, we can’t keep pushing the   
   burden to small business,” said Larry Zogby, who owns a small trucking   
   company in Queens.   
      
   “I’ve been fighting this for three years,” he said of the move to pull   
   the plug on the program.   
      
   “It’s ridiculous to pay to go to work in the city — not to have fun or   
   go shopping — but to go to work,” said Paul Caminiti, a teacher who   
   commutes from Staten Island to Manhattan.   
      
   He said it would take him three hours round-trip to commute by bus while   
   driving takes an hour and 20 minutes.   
      
   The first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program charges drivers in   
   Manhattan below 60th Street a $9 base toll — but the fee can increase to   
   up to $27 when crossing by tunnel or some bridges with no E-ZPass.   
      
   Allison Rivera, 42, who works in a medical office in Manhattan said   
   she’s been forking over $45 a week just to get to her job.   
      
   “Finally,” she said of the scrapped toll. “It was so unfair to pay an   
   extra $9 to get to work [daily].”   
      
   Ricky Stevens, 58, who works in a deli in the East Village added, “I   
   didn’t vote for Trump, but he’s doing more for New Yorkers than our   
   governor. Isn’t that sad?”   
      
   Firefighters, cops and other ordinary workers have said for months they   
   simply can’t afford the toll, which was approved as part of a 2019 state   
   law and later backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2025/02/19/us-news/nyc-workers-commuters-rejo   
   ce-over-trumps-axing-of-congestion-pricing-toll-im-ecstatic/   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)